Business travel, which had been faring fairly well, took quite a hit in June, falling by 33.9 per cent – but over the 6-month period it is only down by 5.7 per cent. 

Leisure travel on the other hand, fell by 9.8 per cent in June – showing a slight recovery as the 6-month figures are down by 15.4 per cent. First-time visitors fell by 19.6 per cent but the importance of giving tourists a great experience to get them to return was underlined by the fact that repeat visitors were up – by 6.3 per cent. Those who visit more than twice a year – presumably many of them property or timeshare owners – were up by 19 per cent.

There were 497,868 tourists for the first half of the year, a decrease of 13.8 per cent . The worst hit markets were holiday visits from the British (-25,246), German (17,325) and French (-10,376) markets. On the other hand increases were recorded in the Italian and Libyan markets.

During the first 6 months, total nights spent decreased by 13.6 per cent when compared to the corresponding period in 2008. Nights spent in private accommodation decreased by 2.6 per cent, while guest nights in collective accommodation decreased by 16.9 per cent.

The average length of stay is calculated at 7.7 nights, at par with 2008. In the period under review, total tourist expenditure is estimated at €356.8 million, a decrease of 11.8 per cent when compared to last year's level. Decreases were recorded throughout all expenditure categories.

The survey results indicate that per capita total expenditure is estimated at €732, up by 2.7 per cent when compared to 2008 levels.

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